Britain’s Last WWI Veteran Shuns Remembrance Day

Britain’s last surviving World War I veteran shunned Remembrance Day commemorations Wednesday because he was against the glorification of war, his family was reported as saying.Claude Choules, 108, lives in a nursing home in Perth, Australia and in July became Britain’s sole survivor from the 1914-1918 war, following the death of fellow veteran Harry Patch, aged 111.

Choules served on HMS Revenge during a 41-year naval career that spanned both world wars, witnessing the surrender of the German Imperial Navy in 1918 and the scuttling of the fleet in Scapa Flow.

But his daughter Daphne Edinger said Choules had been scarred by his experiences and chose not to celebrate the Armistice or other veterans’ days.

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